Calfgrit7 made a tower out of his blocks, and then kicked it to tear it down. After his first kick, this was left:

Notice how that bottom block on the right is touching that flat block on the left only on its corner. We couldn’t have made those blocks balance that perfectly if we had tried.

Bullgrit

By Wifegrit

Last week my oldest son came home from school early because he was sick. Later that afternoon we remembered he had a science quiz the next day, so we went online to his school’s website to look at the words he needed to review. We were so busy that I lost track of time. When I looked up at the clock, it was 3:45!!! Eeek! It was time to pick up my youngest son. He gets out of school at 3:45!!!

Our neighborhood is located next to the school so we usually walk to and from school. I jumped up and ran outside. I grabbed one of the boys’ Razor scooters and took off for school! Yes I rode my son’s scooter to school. I was there in less then 3 minutes. It was actually a lot of fun. When I arrived, I put the scooter down and walked down the hill where we pick up the boys. My youngest was waiting patiently. I told him the story of how I had forgotten to keep up with the time and so had to rush out fast. He then looked up at me and said, ”Mom, that’s kind of embarrassing that you rode my scooter.”

A neighbor down the street has a basketball goal beside their driveway, and our boys have been going down there to shoot hoops for a couple of weeks. Even before this, Wifegrit has been saying we should get a basketball goal for our yard for a while. I’m not a sportsy kind of guy, so a basketball goal in my yard just sounds weird. But it would give the boys some fun, so, at last, we went shopping for a goal.

We just wanted a portable goal — the kind with a base to fill with water or sand — that could adjust from lower to full height as the boys grew. We went to Dick’s sporting goods first. It seemed the logical place to start for sports equipment.

Holy crap! Their goals are expensive! Even ignoring the $1600 permanent posts and goals, their temp stuff runs up to $600. Come on, we’re getting this so the boys can play outside, not start a basketball all stars game. So we left Dick’s.

We then went to our regular everything-we-need store, Target. We quickly found several goals for less than $200. Yay! Thank you, Target. We ended up choosing one for $160, and took it home.

I was intending to set up the goal on Saturday, but it rained all day long. So I got out there Sunday after lunch, and with Calfgrit7’s help, (and a little assistance from Calfgrit11), it only took 3 hours to assemble.

The instructions say it requires “2 competent adults” to build, but we only had one semi-competent adult and a 7 year old. But I think we did a decent enough job that it won’t fall apart tomorrow.

Bullgrit

Our neighbor across the cul de sac just sold her home and moved out. We liked her, and we’ll miss her.

All during the selling process, we always kept a look out for who was looking at the house, wondering who might buy and move in. We saw lots of people looking at the house, some apparently with kids, some apparently without, but we never got to see the actual buyers, until yesterday. Now the new neighbors are starting to move in.

When I came home from work, my boys were out in the cul de sac kicking soccer balls around, and there was a new kid, holding a football, kind of standing around at the end of his driveway. I pulled into our garage, said “Hey,” to my boys, and went in to see Wifegrit. We mentioned that the new neighbors looked to be moving in — no moving van or truck, yet, though. We stood in our living room looking out the front window and watched our boys still playing, and the new kid still watching. After a minute, he walked back up his driveway and sat on the bumper of his parents’ car.

“I’m going to go introduce them,” I said.

“Great idea,” Wifegrit agreed. “Go do that.”

So I went out our front door and my boys came running up to me. “Play soccer with us, Dad!” they both shouted.

“OK,” I said, “but let’s invite the new kid across the street. I’ll introduce you.”

They agreed, but they followed behind me a good ten feet as I walked across the cul de sac and up to the neighbors’ driveway. I greeted the new boy, asked him his name, told him my boys’ names, and invited him to play soccer with us. He smiled and immediately came out with us. He’s in 5th grade, just like Calfgrit11, at the same school — the school literally right across the street — but he’s on a different year-round track.

We played 2-on-2 soccer, (me and Calfgrit7 vs. Calfgrit11 and the new kid), for about 45 minutes, until Wifegrit called us in for dinner, and we said bye to the new kid.

At the dinner table, both our boys seemed happy to have met a new, cool friend, their age. I don’t have anything particularly funny or insightful about any of this. We’re just happy that our boys can have a new friend in the neighborhood, and I’m glad I got to show our boys how to be friendly to new neighbors.

Bullgrit